Synchronization relates to establishing a temporal relationship between two or more devices such that the timing of events at one device can be scheduled or coordinated with the same or different events occurring at another one or more devices. One type of synchronization relies on independent clocks included at each device to time pre-programmed events to commonly execute at pre-scheduled times. This type of synchronization may rely upon a clocking message or other type of synchronization signal to be periodically communicated to each device in order to maintain a common time reference between each of the clocks, and thereby, synchronized execution of the desired events. The synchronization provided by merely coordinating device clocks relative to a common time reference may not be sufficient when events are to be synchronized relative to a time reference independent of such clocks. The synchronization of content requires synchronization where the timing is based on a timeline that varies as a function of variances associated with transport of the content to the one or more devices desiring synchronization.
The synchronization of content can be particularly problematic when the content is broadcasted, multicasted or otherwise commonly transported to a plurality of primary devices as the primary devices may process the content for output at different speeds and/or the transport time at which the content is delivered to the primary devices may vary depending on the transmission medium, network congestion or other influences. If one or more of the primary devices is associated with a secondary device, such as a tablet computer, mobile phone etc., it can be desirable to coordinate activities of the secondary device relative to the content interfaced through the one or more of the primary devices. Synchronizing the primary devices and the secondary devices by setting their clocks to a common time reference may not provide sufficient synchronization since the content timing is unique to each primary device and independent of the clock timing. Accordingly, a need exists to facilitate content synchronization where events or other operations occurring at a secondary device may be timed relative to content interfaced through a primary device in a manner that compensates for variances at which the corresponding primary device interfaces the content.